The Millionaire Cop Next Door

[1032JBT]

Do you also get health benefits in retirement? I so, that is a HUGE cost.

By my calculations, if you retired in 2028 making $60K you would be getting $42K per year in retirement benefits, equal to 70% of your pay. Is this correct? If so, that is something to brag about. I wish that my job would pay me 70% of my pay in retirement.

I can't speak for Denny and his dept as it depends on what agency you work for if you get health benifits or not at retirement. As it stands right now.........at my agency we do not get health. I hope that will change before I retire, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

Would there be the same amount of discussion about pensions if the pensioner was Union instead of LEO/FD? I think not. If a public employee getting a pension has you that peeved that you need to get your panties in a wad over it, get a public employee job ... especially if your chosen profession doesn't provide a pension when you retire.

 

[LPMan59]

I can't speak for Denny and his dept as it depends on what agency you work for if you get health benifits or not at retirement. As it stands right now.........at my agency we do not get health. I hope that will change before I retire, but I'm not holding my breath.

you will thanks to Dear Leader

 

[Denny347]

Why am I even defending my benefits? It is nothing extravagant, I'm just a guy making ends meet in a profession I love. Damned if that is wrong.

 

[UncleMike]

Why am I even defending my benefits? It is nothing extravagant, I'm just a guy making ends meet in a profession I love. Damned if that is wrong.

Chill Denny.
When I was a Rookie, (In the Stone Age) the Cop bashers actually believed that we didn't pay Income tax, Sales Tax, or Property Tax.
No amount talking could dissuade them from their mistaken beliefs.
It's just something that you, and the other Active Duty people, will have to put up with.
No amount of arguing can open the door of a mind that is permanently closed on a subject.
BTW OP.
I get NO medical insurance from my retirement and I gross less than $18,000.00 per year. And YES I pay all income taxes on that amount.

Oh wait!!
I did get a "huge" perk when I retired.
The F.O.P. gave me a watch.
I'll pass that on to my kids as their inheritance from my decades of service.
There sure as Hell won't be any of my pension money left.
Mike

 

[4sarge]

Chill Denny.
When I was a Rookie, (In the Stone Age) the Cop bashers actually believed that we didn't pay Income tax, Sales Tax, or Property Tax.
No amount talking could dissuade them from their mistaken beliefs.
It's just something that you, and the other Active Duty people, will have to put up with.
No amount of arguing can open the door of a mind that is permanently closed on a subject.
BTW OP.
I get NO medical insurance from my retirement and I gross less than $18,000.00 per year. And YES I pay all income taxes on that amount.

Oh wait!!
I did get a "huge" perk when I retired.
The F.O.P. gave me a watch.
I'll pass that on to my kids as their inheritance from my decades of service.
There sure as Hell won't be any of my pension money left.
Mike

I also got the watch, BUT not the mega bucks or benefits that these jokers claim

 

[theweakerbrother]

I have no problem with the market bearing high prices for jobs few people are willing or/nor able to do. Some of the cops must be paid large sums of money to work and LIVE in high dollar areas. Beverly Hills and other high-dollar areas think they must have cops, too, and must pay them wages so they can live, work and play in the community.

Cops earn their pay but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth knowing that the figure of the public servant seems long gone most of the time.

A lot of people see cops are a revenue source for the bloated government and extensions of authoritarian Uncle Sugar... sometimes I feel strongly about either or both of those. I need to do a ride-along to get a better picture of what larger city cops go through.

 

[UncleMike]

I have no problem with the market bearing high prices for jobs few people are willing or/nor able to do. Some of the cops must be paid large sums of money to work and LIVE in high dollar areas. Beverly Hills and other high-dollar areas think they must have cops, too, and must pay them wages so they can live, work and play in the community.

Cops earn their pay but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth knowing that the figure of the public servant seems long gone most of the time.

A lot of people see cops are a revenue source for the bloated government and extensions of authoritarian Uncle Sugar... sometimes I feel strongly about either or both of those. I need to do a ride-along to get a better picture of what larger city cops go through.

Mike

 

[1032JBT]

you will thanks to Dear Leader

Well dear leader can keep his idea of health care..........I would rather bleed to death from a hang nail.

 

[Frank_N_Stein]

I have no problem with the market bearing high prices for jobs few people are willing or/nor able to do. Some of the cops must be paid large sums of money to work and LIVE in high dollar areas. Beverly Hills and other high-dollar areas think they must have cops, too, and must pay them wages so they can live, work and play in the community.

Most LEOs don't live in the community that they serve. Some because they can't afford to, some because they don't want to have off-duty encounters with the people they encounter on-duty. I tried to look up pay scales for Beverly Hills PD but it wasn't on their website. I'd be willing to bet though that they don't get paid enough to live in the high dollar areas.

]Cops earn their pay but it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth knowing that the figure of the public servant seems long gone most of the time.

To me its a two-way street. I am not going to go out of my way to bend over backwards to "serve" people that treat me like **** only because I am an LEO. There are people however that I would do anything possible for to resolve their particular problem in a way that benefits them.

A lot of people see cops are a revenue source for the bloated government and extensions of authoritarian Uncle Sugar... sometimes I feel strongly about either or both of those. I need to do a ride-along to get a better picture of what larger city cops go through.

If I'm not mistaken, law enforcement agencies receive funding from a portion of the property taxes and the budget is set by the city/county/state, depending on the department. Only $3 of traffic tickets paid in Indiana goes to the department the issuing officer works for, and that goes into the "training fund," whatever that is.

And yes, you should do a ride-along to get a better picture of what we do before you let a preconceived notion be the base for your opinion of the police.

 

[UncleMike]

Only $3 of traffic tickets paid in Indiana goes to the department the issuing officer works for, and that goes into the "training fund," whatever that is.

It goes for Firearms Training, First Responder training, Severe Weather training, Drug Interdiction training, and [strike]Donut Identification training[/strike].
(Oops I wasn't supposed to give the last one away.)
Mike

 

[theweakerbrother]

Most LEOs don't live in the community that they serve. Some because they can't afford to, some because they don't want to have off-duty encounters with the people they encounter on-duty. I tried to look up pay scales for Beverly Hills PD but it wasn't on their website. I'd be willing to bet though that they don't get paid enough to live in the high dollar areas.

Of all the scenarios, I could see living in a different area than where you work as to not have off-duty encounters. A complaint of a friend of mine who is a LEO is running into people off duty that he had to put into the drunk tank at the grocery store.

Before I was married, a KY Sheriff's Deputy let me move in with him. He worked in one of the prisons in NKY. When he released an inmate, he lived just a few blocks away from where we did.

To me its a two-way street. I am not going to go out of my way to bend over backwards to "serve" people that treat me like **** only because I am an LEO. There are people however that I would do anything possible for to resolve their particular problem in a way that benefits them.

I have learned to take people at their own face value before anything else. Being a cop, I assume, can be a 'thankless' position. Long hours, short periods of stress followed by hours of monotony, and in larger cities it is probably worse when dealing with street urchins.

Someone else on the board (Bigum?) described a few of his experiences in better words... than I ever did but they applied to me as well. When and if I previously (past tense) go out of my way to say hello or smile at an LEO, more often than not I get nothing in return but silence and a glare.

If I'm not mistaken, law enforcement agencies receive funding from a portion of the property taxes and the budget is set by the city/county/state, depending on the department. Only $3 of traffic tickets paid in Indiana goes to the department the issuing officer works for, and that goes into the "training fund," whatever that is.

Revenue is part of the legitimate criticisms of law enforcement practices that I think is appropriate to be critical. Writing excessive tickets as a revenue source to make sure the department has met their 'quota' to receive hand outs from Uncle Sugar for future programs. I may be misunderstanding how some government systems work, but in order to receive cash from the government, one most show a need for it. To show a need, one most increase the revenue or reasons by more arrests/tickets.

And yes, you should do a ride-along to get a better picture of what we do before you let a preconceived notion be the base for your opinion of the police.

I found this on a website but now I can't find the website's URL. I would not trust this figure until better proof is found:

Job Title: Police Sergeant
Closing Date/Time: Fri. 02/13/09 5:00 PM Pacific Time
Salary: $40.87 – $53.61 hourly
$3,269.54 – $4,288.62 biweekly
$7,084.00 – $9,292.00 monthly
$85,008.00 – $111,504.00 annually

I did find this... again, unsure how reliable it is:

Police Officer Salaries in Beverly Hills, CA - Free Salary Search | Indeed.com

Beverly Hills Police Officers starting wage is 55K.
Job Type: Full-time
Location: Beverly Hills Police Department, California

 

[JBusch8899]

Not that I don't believe that most public safety sector employees aren't worth every penny + a lot more, however, when government employees rate 30% more pay and benefits than the private sector, I become so damned enraged that my tax money has once again been needlessly flushed.

Hypertaxation is merely theft, that leaves business and the individual in a fiscal lurch.

 

[kabrown]

Would there be the same amount of discussion about pensions if the pensioner was Union instead of LEO/FD? I think not. If a public employee getting a pension has you that peeved that you need to get your panties in a wad over it, get a public employee job ... especially if your chosen profession doesn't provide a pension when you retire.

I have no problem with a union bargaining with a private company for the terms of their agreement. It's none of my business what their bargain is because I have no financial stake in it. If they both came to an agreement that they found mutually beneficial, I have no right to interfere.

However, I DO have a financial stake in how much PUBLIC employees are paid because the government TAKES my money to pay their salaries. The more money public employees are paid, the more the government takes from me to do so. I have no right as a consumer to choose another service. If I don't like the response time from the PD/FD I can't refuse to pay for them and hire an alternative service. If I don't like my local educational system I can't refuse to pay the teachers (Not to mention I have to pay them even if I don't even use their services).

True, my chosen profession doesn't pay me a pension. That means I have to take personal responsibility and make wise financial decisions so that I can secure my future. I'm not going to take a government job just so that taxpayers can pay for my retirement.

This is not just about LEO/FD. I think many public employees have forgotten who pays the bills.

 

[kabrown]

Why am I even defending my benefits? It is nothing extravagant, I'm just a guy making ends meet in a profession I love. Damned if that is wrong.

Your benefits come from my pocket. I think all employers should have the right to question what they are paying their employees.

 

[kabrown]

Mike

I seriously would like to do a ride-along as well. How do I find more information on this?

 

[UncleMike]

Your benefits come from my pocket. I think all employers should have the right to question what they are paying their employees.

Each Officer pays six percent of his/her pay into PERF. I was paying six percent of my Sergeants pay for nineteen years, but when I retired my PERF pay was based on the annual salary of a Patrolman, not the higher Command Rank pay that I had been putting into my Pension Fund for nearly all of my career. What that means is that the Command Rank are losing a significant portion of their input to PERF.
However, I knew the rules when I took the job, so it is, what it is.

I seriously would like to do a ride-along as well. How do I find more information on this?

Contact the Department and ask if they have a "ride along" program.
Some Departments don't have the program because of the liability incurred when taking "Non Sworn" personnel out on patrol. Some Departments utilize a "Scout" program in which a minimum of training has to be completed before a Civilian can ride on patrol. This seems to calm the jittery nerves of some Mayors and City Attorney's.
Mike

 

[Eddie]

Here's a good one:

At my old department, retirement for a large body of the retiree's was based on a first year patrolman's salary. So a first year patrolmen in 1991 was getting paid $20,000 a year. After the first year, their pay jumped to $26,000 a year and then went up about a grand a year for the next five years. It was set up this way to keep from giving a raise to the retirees.

The other thing that the city did was to increase the uniform allotment. Uniform allotment went to every employee and it was to compensate the employees for the cost of the uniforms and collar brass and such. The retirees did not receive a uniform allotment. So instead of giving raises, the city would just up the uniform allotment. I don't remember for sure but I am thinking that the uniform allotment had swollen to over $2,000 a year during the time I was there and that was way over the cost of replacing shirts and pants.

 

[JBusch8899]

Here's a good one:

At my old department, retirement for a large body of the retiree's was based on a first year patrolman's salary. So a first year patrolmen in 1991 was getting paid $20,000 a year. After the first year, their pay jumped to $26,000 a year and then went up about a grand a year for the next five years. It was set up this way to keep from giving a raise to the retirees.

The other thing that the city did was to increase the uniform allotment. Uniform allotment went to every employee and it was to compensate the employees for the cost of the uniforms and collar brass and such. The retirees did not receive a uniform allotment. So instead of giving raises, the city would just up the uniform allotment. I don't remember for sure but I am thinking that the uniform allotment had swollen to over $2,000 a year during the time I was there and that was way over the cost of replacing shirts and pants.

The IPD retirement pension, or at least used to, reflect the max of a patrolman's salary. When a patrolman received an increase in pay, so did the retiree.

 

[JBusch8899]

Back to the OP:

I personally know a number of LEOs that pull down $100K/year, in large measure, due to overtime.